Not Enough Time in the World
by The Draigg
Summary: When faced with the unthinkable and the unacceptable, Byleth finds that he cannot change the fate of the world, even if he tries to save someone very close to his heart. NOTICE: Spoilers for the Guardian Moon chapter of Fire Emblem: Three Houses.


**_Not Enough Time in the World_**

**Hello everyone! It's The Draigg here, and as a newcomer to Fire Emblem, I've got to say that Three Houses has sucked me in in a way that I didn't think possible before. So, to celebrate my new love for this game, I figured that a short story here would be a good way to honor it. Three Houses is brimming with so much potential, and I can't help but capitalize on that somehow. In this case, I want to explore the potential of a certain scene involving Jeralt and the Divine Pulse a bit more. Anyways, before we get started here, just a quick reminder that Intelligent Systems owns Fire Emblem, the usual disclaimer stuff. Now, let's get to the story!**

**XXX**

Things had finally settled down after the class' small excursion to the abandoned chapel near Garreg Mach Monastery. Byleth and Claude had wasted no time at all heading over there with the rest of the Golden Deer House to investigate the claims of disappeared students and Demonic Beasts. And even though the entire class was shocked at the discovery that the Demonic Beasts were actually the missing students transformed into monsters, they did a handy job at rescuing the handful of students that hadn't been turned yet. However, something about the situation felt… off to Byleth.

Byleth couldn't help but rest his hand against his chin in thought as he waited under a tree for his father, Jeralt, to finish up rounding everyone back up. At the moment, he saw that Jeralt was talking to that red-headed girl, Monica. What made everything seem slightly suspect was the fact that Monica was among the students that the Golden Deer had rescued.

The thing was, Monica had only been found rather recently after being apparently missing for about a year. Now, while finding a lost student after a year of being gone was a thing to indeed celebrate, but there were a few details about the whole scenario that didn't agree with Byleth's thought processes.

For one, how would a girl, who had been kidnapped a year ago and held in a sealed-off underground chamber, still be alive if there was nobody bringing food or water to her? The kidnapper deciding to bring Monica along for Flayn's kidnapping made no logical sense to Byleth, and that was the only theory that made sense to him. Secondly, Monica was acting rather odd for someone who had just been apparently held hostage for a year. Now, Byleth was aware that people could react oddly when faced with adversity. He had seen fresh-faced mercenaries run off in fear during their first contract mission, and the same went for ones that froze up in terror. But acting chipper and constantly chatting with and hanging around Edelgard not long after finally finishing a year of straight trauma? That didn't add up either.

"_And now she's here, chatting up my father._" Byleth thought. "_She was involved with two major events practically back to back and she's still wearing that smile. Was she actually involved with the kidnapper and whomever made these beasts? And could that person be the same one?_"

That idea seemed very likely to Byleth. How close she was to events involving highly rare and dangerous enemies either meant that she somehow had the worst luck out of everyone in Fódlan, or that she had a hand in it to some extent. But, the question remained whether or not Monica was in control of her actions or not.

"_It is possible that Monica has been brainwashed by the enemy, whoever they are. Most likely the Flame Emperor._" Byleth then added to his mental evidence.

Byleth sighed. Whatever the case could be, it would certainly require more investigation. At the present, it wasn't like he could walk over to his father and ask that Monica be locked up until they performed a new background check on her. That was well out of the realm of his duties as professor. So for now, Byleth felt that he would just have to wait until everything settled down at the monastery before doing some investigative work of his own.

As he filed away his thoughts, Byleth started to approach his father and Monica, intending to ask them if they felt everything was finally squared away. From a distance, he could hear his father say, "Run along now" to Monica.

Byleth saw Monica smile as she turned away to leave. "Thanks for all your help, sir!" she said with an added small chuckle.

Then, just as Byleth realized what was about to happen, Monic pulled out a strange-looking dagger and plunged it into Jeralt's back.

"You're just a pathetic old man." was Monica's cold taunt as she pulled the dagger out of Jeralt's back. As Byleth heard his father gasping for air as he slumped to the ground, he heard Monica add, "How dare you get in the way of my brilliant plan… you dog!"

At that instant, Byleth felt creeping horror at what had just unfolded in front of his eyes. But, a part of him also knew that he had no time to be afraid. The mercenary that was once known as the Ashen Demon knew that when in a fight, there was no time to stand around and be terrified. Instead, Byleth decided to do something a bit drastic.

Ever since Byleth had made contact with the green-haired girl that apparently lived inside his head, Sothis, he had been gifted the power to rewind time for a short period through her magical powers. He called the ability the Divine Pulse, and he had used it only rarely before to get himself and his students out of bad situations. Now more than ever was an appropriate time to use it. Byleth needed to use it to save his father.

Somewhere inside of Byleth's heart, it felt like a muscle that he had never used before suddenly flexed. Colors shifted and ebbed in his vision as Byleth felt time momentarily bend to his will. The clouds overhead rolled back to where they once were moments ago. Birds flew back into their nests in reverse. Off in the distance, Claude unknowingly took back a joke he had just told to annoy Lorenz.

Once time had shifted back to where it was before, Byleth stood at the ready, his sword hand primed over the pommel of his weapon. He had no choice but to strike down Monica the moment she walked away from Jeralt. Byleth needed to save his father.

**TEMPORAL DISTORTION 1**

Byleth did not hesitate to run as fast as possible towards Jeralt and Monica, drawing his steel sword from his back sheath between strides. His glare was fixed directly at Monica, the would-be murderer of his only family left.

Just as he had approached the two, Byleth noticed that Monica had already drawn her long black dagger from its hidden sheath and was preparing a cheap strike that would most assuredly result in Jeralt's death. That was when Monic looked up from what she was doing and saw Byleth barreling towards her, sword at the ready to cut her down. Byleth locked eyes directly at Monica, who briefly visibly recoiled at the sight of the venomous glare that he was sending her way. However, that wasn't enough to stop her in time.

Her face now sporting a smug grin, Monica quickly stabbed her blade into Jeralt before he could turn around at confusion at the sound of Byleth's rapid footsteps. Byleth's father fell to the ground as Monica took her dagger out, clutching at his back in agony.

Monica then took a stance to block Byleth's incoming blow with her dagger. The two blades clashed, with Monica still sporting her wicked grin at Byleth. "How does it feel to be an orphan, mutt?" she sneered at him.

Byleth's response was a swift kick to Monica's crotch. With her taunting, Monica had left a glaring opening for him to exploit, which he did so with prejudice. As the air quickly vacated Monica's lungs, she couldn't help but reel back from the pain. That was the last mistake she would ever make, as Byleth took the opportunity to bring his steel sword down directly upon Monica's neck. The blade only cleaved halfway through, and Byleth had to pull it out from between the vertebrae it was stuck between.

People often made odd noises when they died, and Monica was no exception. She let out noise somewhere between a sigh, a wheeze, and a squeak as she fell to the floor like a bag of stones. Her corpse lay down face-first into the dirt, not moving.

However, Byleth was unsatisfied with his slaying of the traitor, Monica. He had failed his mission to save his father, who was currently bleeding out of the back wound at a rapid pace. But, where was always another chance to save the man who raised him, thanks to the power of the Divine Pulse.

Stifling down the growing feelings of anger and sadness within him, Byelth flexed that unknown muscle deep in his heart so he could try again.

**TEMPORAL DISTORTION 2**

This time, Byleth hoped to find success with a different approach.

"Father! Behind you!" his voice shouted across the small field. To Byleth's slight relief, he saw Jeralt quickly spin on his heel to look in his direction.

"Huh? What's the matter-?" he started to say, before he saw Monica try to slash at him with a dagger.

Reflexively raising his arm, the veteran mercenary managed to deflect the slash with the armored sleeves he was wearing. Now that his father was actively in the fight now, Byleth felt a slight amount of hope as he dashed towards the now-grappling pair, his sword at the ready.

"It was you!?" Jeralt shouted in disbelief as he tried to wrestle the dagger out of Monica's hand.

"Who else?" was Monica's smug retort to the Knights of Seiros' Captain.

At that, Jeralt decided to add a slight amount of pragmatism to the fight and head-butted Monica directly in the face, as if it was a response to her boast. That broke the grapple as Monica staggered back, slightly stunned. Jeralt wasted no time in tackling Monica directly to the ground, causing her to drop her weapon.

Just as Byleth had run up to his father and the murderer he was fighting, Jeralt had started to pummel Monica's face with his bare fists. The sight of Monica getting her nose broken was a bit of a relief to Byleth. It was highly likely that he had saved his father!

Jeralt's fists flew as he bloodied his knuckles with blood that poured out of Monica's nose. Monica did her best to fight back against the rain of blows, but only managed to flail her arms around helplessly along the grass. However, due to a stroke of horrendous luck, Monica's random running of her arms across the ground yielded something that would turn the tides in her favor: the dagger she had dropped.

Byleth was just about to push his father out of the way when Monica stabbed at Jeralt. Although Byleth's shove did cause Monica to miss her intended target of Jeralt's back, the blade still managed to imbed itself into Jeralt's side, right above one of his kidneys. With a cry of pain, Jeralt rolled off of Monica, while the murderous girl let out a slight cackle at how things still worked in her favor.

Not that Monica had much time left to enjoy her pyrrhic victory, of course. Raising his foot above her head, Byleth stomped down directly onto Monica's face with all the strength his leg muscles could muster. The end result was Byleth's booted foot caving in Monica's face as if it were made of papier-mâché. All of the punches that Jeralt laid onto Monica's face moments before had prepared Byleth's foot for the finishing blow, complete with a sickening wet crunching sound. In a small explosion of bone and gore, the downward strike sent pieces of Monica's head into the grass surrounding her. Byleth hardly noticed the brain matter clinging to one of his soles as he dove over to where his father lay dying.

Kneeling down, Byleth turned his father over to look at him directly. Jeralt's eyes were squeezed shut in pain, and from his grip Byleth could tell that Jeralt was losing too much blood too fast to be saved. Even if he were to call over someone like Marianne to heal him, she would arrive too late. Byleth had seen enough wounds like that to be able to instantly tell that his father's life was still forfeit.

Byleth grit his teeth in frustration. He had failed his mission again, even if he was still able to immediately avenge his father's murder upon the killer. Killing Monica wasn't enough. Byleth only had the simple wish of making his father live through the encounter. He couldn't stand to let him die and be alone. Jeralt was the first person to truly read his feelings, as much as he didn't show them. Without his father's presence, Byleth would have to face true isolation for the first time in his life. He wasn't about to let that stand if he could help it.

Once again reaching deep inside himself, Byleth sought to invoke the power of the Divine Pulse yet again. However, for the briefest moment, he could feel the aetheric heat of his heart flicker for just a moment before activating. That wasn't a good sign. Regardless, Byleth pressed forward with the Pulse. Failure wasn't an option for him.

**TEMPORAL DISTORTION 3**

Once again shifting strategies, Byleth decided to travel a little further back in time. However, as he added a few precious extra minutes to his time, he could feel the power of the Divine Pulse flicker much more rapidly. Using them in quick succession was starting to sap his strength to use them. However, if Byleth's plan was to work, he wouldn't have to worry about losing the strength to use the Pulse.

Time ebbed and flowed around Byleth until he reached a point where he wasn't waiting underneath the tree for his father and Monica to finish talking. Instead, the point in time he found himself in was a few minutes before that, back when he had walked away from the students of the Golden Deer.

Byleth hustled over to the nearest student within grasp. Fortunately for him, it was Claude, the leader of the house and their best archer. Having access to a ranged attack like Clade's iron bow and arrows would be very helpful if Jeralt was to be saved.

As it just so happened, Claude was starting up a joke with Lorenz as Byleth walked over. "Say Lorenz, have you ever heard about the Aristocrats? I mean, I figure you have, being that you're one yourself."

Before Lorenz could even respond, Byleth grabbed Claude by the shoulder. "We need to go, right now."

"What, Teach? I was just about to enlighten Lorenz about—" was Claude's cut-off protest.

"It would have been reprehensible regardless, no doubt." Lorenz said, unsurprised at his own (correct) assumption.

"Jeralt's in danger. We need to go help him, before it's too late." quickly explained Byleth. Then, turning his attention to Lorenz, he added, "Go get everyone else. We could use extra help."

"Whoa, whoa there, Teach. You've got that serious look in your eyes. I don't think I've ever seen those before. That bad, huh? …I guess I gotta go with you then." Claude commented. He was always one to trust in Byleth's abilities in the battlefield, so any judgement call he made would be taken seriously right off the bat. There was no reason not to listen to his professor after he led them to victory in their first mock battle with the other Houses, after all.

"More Demonic Beasts?!" Lorenz exclaimed, shocked.

Byleth shook his head. "No, although it's someone I suspect is connected to their appearance. Now go."

Nodding, Lorenz rushed off to get the rest of the Golden Deer. Once he saw that Lorenz was on his way, Byleth set off at a rapid pace to where Jeralt was talking with Monica elsewhere. Claude followed directly behind his teacher, unslinging his bow from where it rested across his back.

It wasn't a far distance to travel, but the time it took to briefly explain the situation to Claude and Lorenz took away some time that was necessary to save Jeralt. When Byleth and Claude finally reached the small field the two of them were standing in, Byleth could see history repeating itself yet again. But there was still a chance he could change fate!

"Claude, you have to shoot Monica. Now!" Byleth suddenly commanded.

Claude couldn't help but slightly flinch at the sound of his professor briefly raise his voice. But to him, that indicated how seriously dire the situation apparently was. It was too out of character for his teacher to do otherwise. Notching back an arrow, Claude let the projectile fly across the air and directly towards where Monica was standing.

Although the arrow did hit Monica, it wasn't enough to take her out in one strike. Instead, due to her starting to walk a bit behind Jeralt, the arrow grazed the side of Monica's temple rather than the center of the forehead like Claude had intended. Realizing that her cover was blown, Monica then pulled out her dagger and ran behind Jeralt, holding the blade up to his throat. It was clear to Byleth that Monica intended to take Jeralt hostage in exchange for her own escape. It was something he had seen before as a mercenary about a dozen times.

"Don't do anything stupid now, mutt!" Monica called out from across the field. "You don't want me to make the Captain here have a severe shaving accident!"

Byleth paid Monica's words no attention as he rushed across the field directly towards her. At the same time, Jeralt decided to fight out of Monica's grip. As he got closer, Byleth raised his sword for a sideways strike at Monica's head. In her eyes, Byleth could see Monica internally panic at him not following her warning at all.

It was at that point that Monica decided to take back control of the situation. Just as Byleth was about the cut her down, Monica pulled back Jeralt with one last tug, bringing him close enough to slit his throat. Although she did indeed complete the slicing motion across Jeralt's neck above the Adam's apple, Monica had no time to enjoy it, as Byleth's sword collided with the side of her head.

With a scream, Monica let go of the body of Byleth's father, letting it fall to the ground as she clutched the massive new gouge in the side of her head in agony. "YOU DASTAR—" was all she could shriek out before Byleth finished the job by swinging the sword at her neck. The strength behind the cleave was so strong that it was able to decapitate Monica with a single blow. Her corpse instantly dropped onto the dirt, with her head following a second later. If one were to bother looking at the head of Monica, all they would see is a frozen expression of shocked disbelief and anger.

Not that Byleth cared about her at all. Instead, he slumped to his knees and grabbed his father by the shoulders. He gave a light shake, to see if he would open his eyes and wake up. But deep inside, Byleth knew that it was of no use. His shaking of his father was like a child's prayer of desperation. No matter what he did, there was no bringing back Jeralt from having his throat slit. Behind him, Byleth could hear Claude jog up to him.

"Oh shit. _Oh shit._ I… Oh no…" was all Claude could say when looking at the sad sight before him. He could plainly see the desperation within Byleth's glassy eyes as he tried to rouse his father back to the realm of the living, with little avail.

"Teach… I… He's gone…" Claude then said.

Turning to look at Claude, Byleth didn't want to internally admit that Claude was right. It seemed like every attempt at changing the fate of his father wasn't working. Through sorrowful eyes, Byleth then saw the rest of the Golden Deer run towards where he was kneeling, with Lorenz leading the charge.

"Captain Jeralt! CAPTAIN! NO!" screamed Leonie as she came into view.

Looking back down at his father's face, Byleth seemed transfixed for a moment by it. He looked oddly at peace in death, despite how sudden it was. It made him shut out the outside world, with all the noises of Leonie's open weeping and Ignatz's profuse condolences being left behind.

Inwardly, Byleth tried to feel the divine energy in his chest. What once felt like a surging flame inside his soul before now felt like smoldering embers. He could probably summon the power of that flame once more if he stirred them, but he could tell that his soul's stamina was running thin. There was only one more chance to use the Divine Pulse before his energy reserves ran empty.

Only one more chance, and only one more option he hadn't used before. Perhaps the Sword of the Creator was to be Byleth's trump card in changing fate. Neither Byleth nor his father knew exactly what to make of being allowed to keep such a sublime Hero's Relic. The thing shouldn't have even worked for Byleth, given that there was no Crest Stone in the hilt, and yet it still came alive in his hands. Both the father and son were rather put-off by Byleth's use of it, and even more put-off by Archbishop Rhea's sanctioning of him using it. For that reason alone Byleth normally did not consider using the Sword of the Creator, except for perhaps the most dire of situations.

At the present, the situation was indeed dire.

"I'm coming, father." Byleth muttered to himself.

Inside the depths of Byleth's soul, he summoned all the willpower he had to stoke the flames of the Divine Pulse one last time. The embers ignited once more, sputtering back to life in sporadic bursts of deific energy. Summoning upon the power that Sothis had granted him, Byleth made one final plunge into the past, back to the moment where he had been waiting under the tree for his father.

**TEMPORAL DISTORTION 4**

The entirety of the flow of time dilated, concaved, and expanded around Byleth one last time. As he had predicted, the Divine Pulse could only afford him one last trip back into the near-past. Within him, the ethereal presence dimmed and faded, leaving only an empty, yawning void that would only restore itself given time. Time that Byleth didn't have.

As the distortion of time faded and its regular flow began to continue, Byleth once again found himself standing before his father and Monica, standing far enough away that a standard sword strike would take away the precious minute or two he had before the murder of his one remaining parent in the world.

Not too far away from him, Byleth heard Monica say, "Thanks for all your help, sir!". That was his cue.

With a swift motion, Byleth unsheathed the Sword of the Creator from where it was stored on his hip, and flicked his wrist to active it its whip-like form. From where he was standing, Byleth could tell that he was about to land a direct hit on the back of the wastrel that was about to kill his father.

However, fate seemed to conspire against Byleth and Jeralt.

As if out of nowhere, the very fabric of space-time seemed to shift and warp, and out of a pitch-black spot hovering in the air appeared a sinister-looking man, who was ungodly pale and clad entirely in black clothing and armor. Seemingly using magic, the new interloper deflected away the tip of the Sword of the Creator's blade, which sent it reeling back into its normal sword form.

Once the blade locked back in place, Byleth knew that it was too late. Behind him, he saw Monica stabbing his father in the back, just as it had occurred the first time around. For one of the first times in his life, Byleth could feel an expression of sheer shock and despair form on his face, if ever so briefly. And yet for Monica, she pulled out the dagger as if it were an afterthought.

"Huh? What are you doing here?" Monica couldn't help but ask the mysterious dark figure in front of Byleth as she turned around.

"You must survive," the interloper responded. "Merely because there is still a role that I require you to fufill."

At that, the dark and pale man ran over to Monica, grabbed a hold of her, and warped away in the same manner in which he appeared. Tossing the Sword of the Creator on the grass as if it was unimportant rubbish, Byleth dashed over to his father's prone form and cradled the dying man in his arms. The killers were no longer important at that moment, only the man who had just had his life stolen from him was.

"Sorry…" Jeralt started to say between his dying groans. "It looks like… I'm going to leave you now…"

Byleth could feel something hot pool up just beneath his eyes. All of his anger, all of his grief at the failure to save his father began to coalesce densely inside of him. He had failed, and now he and his father were paying the price. No matter what he did, there was no avoiding the death of Jeralt. He had given it everything he had within him, and even then that was not enough. In the back of his mind, Byleth could faintly feel some feelings of sadness coming from Sothis, as if she wanted to say something but could not find the right words. That had no meaning for Byleth at that moment at all. Nothing that Sothis could ever say would be more important that what Jeralt was saying now for his dying words. As he stared at his father, grief plain in his eyes, tears began to fall onto Jeralt.

Jeralt gave a very weak smile. "To think that the first time I saw you cry… your tears would be for me. It's sad… and yet I'm happy for it. Thank you… kid."

Upon the final utterance of those words, the features of Jeralt's face slackened, never to be used again. No more could Jeralt Eisner laugh, nor cry, nor feel pride for his son. He was truly departed from the world.

As Byleth cradled his father's corpse, the uncaring clouds above began to rain down upon them. Byleth felt the cold sting of the rain mix with the warmth of his tears. The man who had raised him from birth, his father, his entire world that he had grown up with, was just stolen from him. Stolen by people that he had no idea existed until a few weeks ago.

Pulling Jeralt's body into an embrace, Byleth gave his father one last hug. He would make the hug last for as long as possible, until he could be sure that he could express his sorrow for the loss of such a great man no longer. The fire that sparked his life was put out, vanquished by the cruelty of Fódlan, if not the entire world that he lived in. Byleth truly did care for Jeralt, even if hadn't had the knowledge of how to express it until it was too late. Indeed, Byleth could care as much as he wanted to, and yet time still seemed to march on with one less person experiencing it.

And the uncaring clouds continued to rain overhead, unsympathetic to it all.

**XXX**

**I'll freely admit that Jeralt's death hit me really hard when I reached that point in Three Houses. I only hope that all of you guys felt the same about that moment. And I certainly also hope that I did that part of the game's plot some justice with my story here. As I said above, I wanted to explore that moment more, and I feel that I brought out those emotions well. Whatever the case may be, I certainly hope it was good enough for all of you. This has been The Draigg, and I'm signing off here!**


End file.
